Virtual Reality for Pilot Training: Study of Cardiac Activity

Abstract

: Flight training is provided through real flights with real aircraft and virtual flights using simulators. Nowadays a third alternative way emerges which is the use of immersive virtual reality (VR) flight deck. However, the effectiveness of this technology as a training tool for pilots has not yet been fully assessed. We, therefore, conducted an experiment involving four pilots that had to perform the same traffic pattern scenario (take off, downwind, and landing) in a VR simulator and real flight conditions. We collected subjective (perceived task difficulty) and objective data (trajectory, cardiac activity). In this this preliminary study, the first descriptive results disclosed that pilots had similar flying trajectories in both conditions. As one could expect, the pilots reported higher task difficulty and exhibited higher heart rate and lower heart rate variability in the real flight condition compared to the VR one. However, similar patterns of subjective rating and cardiac activation were found across the different segments of the scenarios (landing > take off > downwind) for the two conditions. These latter findings suggest that VR offer promising prospects for training purpose but that more experiments have to be conducted following the proposed methodology.

Authors

• P. Labedan
• Nicolas Darodes-de-Tailly
• F. Dehais
• Vsevolod Peysakhovich

Keywords

• Computer Science
• Medicine
• Engineering